Welcome to the Vegan-Nutritionista.com subscriber group! Our newsletter focuses on helping you learn more about veganism and how to apply it to your daily life. Vegan Bytes is dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with the world of food, answering your vegan nutrition questions, and providing you with ideas on ways to spread your lifestyle beliefs.

More and more people read Vegan Bytes each month and part of that is thanks to you forwarding your friends my website. Thank you so much for your support. Since it's the start of a new year, many people are interested in getting back in shape and making this the year of health and happiness, so if you know someone who could use a little encouragement, send this along.

We're on a mission to reach more people on facebook, so please come like us at facebook and share with your friends. You can see fun pictures of my travel adventures, favorite recipes, and links that I don't share on the website.

And, if you haven't visited Vegan Nutritionista.com since you signed up for this newsletter, you might not have seen an awesome new feature we have. You can now comment on any page on the site! You can link it to your facebook account so your friends can see what you have to say, and help them to help themselves with a healthier, more compassionate lifestyle.

Celebrating the Holidays As A Vegan

The holidays can sometimes be the hardest times to maintain a diet and lifestyle choice like veganism. Especially when you're new to a vegan diet, you can feel left out, singled out, forced into eating something you don't want to, guilty, frustrated, and angry. Instead of all the negativity, there are a few ways that I always remain happy and energetic while celebrating holidays as a vegan.

I put together 5 great tips for enjoying the holidays without the worry about how other people are going to respond when they find out you can't eat their most popular Christmas cookies because you don't eat butter, milk, or eggs.

And, don't forget to click through for my vegan Halloween page, where other readers have been sharing their favorite tips for dealing with Halloween candy and parties. We'd love to hear your best ideas for how to manage the surplus of Halloween candy your kids lug home that night, or any other great vegan Halloween stories. Plus, you can see my favorite Halloween candy recipe... perfect for a kids baking activity!

Nutritional Spotlight: Apples

Apples are one of those fruits that we all instinctively know is good for us, but we don't know exactly why. It's not a highly hyped fruit right now, and hasn't made its way around the superfood circuit and gotten a ton of attention.

But, there are really good reasons not to forget about the old "apple a day" adage. Learn all about the health benefits of apples here.

Question: "I'm confused about veganism... what do I eat?"

Dan writes to us in a state of confusion about what he should be eating. He has become vegan, but still doesn't feel great when he eats breads and meat substitutes. He finds the gluten-free movement confusing, and isn't sure whether to follow Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live diet as well.

I find that often the gluten-free diet is lumped together with a vegan diet. I'll have a waiter at a restaurant ask if I can eat wheat right after finding out I'm vegan (not to mention that ever-annoying pizza that comes without cheese or sauce because for some reason they think we want neither when we ask for it cheese-free!) While I do know plenty of people who follow both a gluten-free and vegan simultaneously, others just do one.

Question: "Why does a plant-based diet make perfect sense?"

Deborah shares with us how she finally understood veganism and decided to change her life after watching Forks Over Knives.

This documentary changed so many lives and I've heard from countless people how it is responsible for their move to a vegan diet.

Deborah says, "I have decided to follow vegan diet, and will cook mostly vegan meals for my family. My husband and son have not decided to join me - yet. I hope they will someday understand why eating a plant-based diet is important on so many levels."

Vegan Nutritionista Downloadable EBooks

This is our most recently created ebook, and it's been incredibly exciting to put together. There is no one particular book on quitting cheese available in stores, and not many people are aware of the physically addictive qualities to dairy cheese. Instead of being sick and fat, you can give up cheese and feel light and free. This ebook also has the very best vegan cheese recipes, so you don't have to eat packaged versions that don't taste quite right anymore.

This is one of our most popular cookbooks. I've found it really difficult to find a vegan bread cookbook on the internet; there are tons of recipes out there, but they're scattered all over different sites and you never know which ones are good. This book has everything from an eggless brioche to a classic whole wheat boule recipe, so you'll never have to go scrounging the internet again. I'm so happy people have gotten so much out of this ebook.

Vegan Meal Plans is a complete meal plan for one month vegan weekday dinners. It includes 64 recipes, pictures, nutritional information, grocery lists, and tips and techniques. Everyone from those beginning a vegan diet to those veterans who want fresh menu ideas love this ebook. It focuses on fresh, local, and seasonal vegetables and uses all normal ingredients-- no fussy or gourmet skills needed. Download a copy for only
$9.75 here.

The spring meal plan book is available and is getting great reviews! It focuses on seasonal spring vegetables like kale, lettuce, carrots, peas, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, and more! Just like in the original Vegan Nutritionista meal plans, the menus include 66 recipes for full dinners for 4 work weeks complete with nutritional information, tips, and many pictures. No repeats! Get your Vegan Meal Plan for Spring/Summer, now for just $9.75.

Soak, Rinse, Boil! is a complete guide to cooking beans and grains. Don't worry about picking up endless cans of beans that need to be rinsed to reduce the sodium. Control all your own additives with fresh, homemade beans and grains. This guide teaches how to soak, how to boil, what spices to add and when, and how to store your finished product. Download a copy for only $4.75 here.

*Note* If you are an owner of A Fresh New Vegan You, you have a very similar guide in your ebook already. This is a printable handbook to store in the kitchen near your dried beans and grains.

Just the Menus Ebook Package allows you to have both Vegan Nutritionista meal plans, one for the fall/winter and one for the spring/summer at a discounted rate. Download your copy for only $16.99 here.

Menus and Cookbooks Ebook Package allows you to have both Vegan Nutritionista Meal Plans, one for the fall/winter and one for the spring/summer at a discounted rate, as well as The Vegan Bread Box and Cut the Cheese. Download your copy for only $27.99 here.

This massive, complete vegan grocery list is the only one you'll ever need. Print out copies of it to hang on your fridge, and then mark what you need as you go throughout the week. Download a copy for only $0.99.

A Fresh New Vegan You is a complete look at why people go vegan, including information about factory farms, the environment, and the health benefits. It provides details on how to go vegan, and offers basic vegan nutritional advice, as well as information on vegan pregnancy and raising vegan children. This ebook combines all my vegan research into one easy, convenient location. Download a copy for only $27 here.

Get Cut the Cheese, The Vegan Bread Box, A Fresh New Vegan You, Vegan Meal Plans and Vegan Meal Plans for Spring with a free copy of the massive Vegan Grocery List for only $54.95. Save more than 15%! Download this package here.
*Note: this does not include Soak, Rinse, Boil! because you get it within A Fresh New Vegan You.

Recipe of the Month: Caramel Apples

Of course, adulterating the healthy apple with a bunch of sugar and butter isn't going to improve its health benefits, but it sure does make it impossible not to eat. And plus, who can resist a sticky, sweet caramel apple that's actually vegan after all those trips to carnivals and pumpkin patches where you had to avoid their apples?

While there are a few steps that go into making the caramel for apples, they really are fairly simple. This is an awesome project to do with kids, who can top the apples with peanuts, almonds, Oreos, or just about any of their favorite candies. The finished product is perfect for a Halloween party, whether for kids or adults.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and our Blog

Vegan Nutritionista is constantly growing and changing, and if you signed up for this newsletter a long time ago, you might not have read our new information. Our blog page keeps you up-to-date with new articles on the site.

We're in the process of updating the design of our website. I sometimes had a hard time fitting everything I wanted to say into the two columns we used to use, so now we have three columns. And, we'll be transitioning over to a really pretty color scheme. Nothing changes for you; all the content is exactly the same. I hope you like it!

We also now have a vegan forum where you can find topics submitted by users for discussion, answers, and places to add your own input. There is no member name required to participate, so you can jump right in and

Vegan Essentials is one of my very favorite places to shop for vegan supplies. They have everything from clothes and shoes to vegan cheese, and their prices are the best around.

Amazon has really grown on me over the past decade or so. It no longer is just a resource for finding books, but now sells almost everything. Over the past few years, I've found more and more vegan-friendly supplies on amazon, including books, shoes, clothes, soymilk makers, soybeans, and so much more.

VitaMix is hands down the best blender on the market. I recommend it to anyone and everyone, and it's absolutely amazing... no exaggeration. In fact, the other day, I found myself taking a complete stranger to a section of a cooking store to show her the VitaMix and explain its benefits, just for pure fun!

You can make soups, ice cream, smoothies, whole fruit/vegetable juices, grind grains, make nut butters, grind ice, and so much more. I can remember life before the VitaMix and how frustrating it was to never get the exact consistency I wanted in my smoothies because the ice just wouldn't break up, and now I never give it a second thought. Highly recommended!

If you're a vegan nutritionista yourself and have always thought about running a blog with your vegan recipes, you should think about an SBI website. I would never have known how to start a website, let alone get Vegan Nutritionista to the successful place it is right now without Site Build It, and I can't recommend it enough. If you are passionate about anything, any hobby, lifestyle, food, drink, or culture, you can start a website about it. All you have to do is love it, research it, and learn to "talk" about it and SBI will guide you to making it financially successful.

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I am an affiliate for these newsletter sponsors, so anytime someone buys something from these stores after using a link from our site, I make a small commission on it. But, I do promise that I would never recommend something that I don't use and love myself. So if you see a link on our site for something you like, you can support their company and the running of Vegan Nutritionista as well, or you can always choose to go directly to the company.

And don't forget, a percentage of all Vegan Nutritionista profits go to a rotating group of charities that benefit animals. This quarter we're giving money to Pigs Peace Sanctuary.

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Disclaimer: Everything in this website is based upon information collected by Cathleen Woods, from a variety of sources. It is my opinion and is not intended as medical advice. It is recommended that you consult with a qualified health care professional before making a diet change.